This was recommended to me by someone in the all-women's surfing school I attended in Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico in November 2011 when my friend, Julie, turned 50. I really did SUCK at surfing, and this book is about a woman who makes many analogies from her own journey in surfing, making the point that it is healthy to try something outside of one's comfort zone and to fail/not be the best/perfect. Her points are super valid, and she has an entertaining writing style, but I felt like her points were so common sense that I got bored at the end. I think this book would be especially good for people who don't try things unless they know they can succeed. I am not one of those kinds of people.
I could relate to sucking at surfing. I really thought it would be easy for me because I grew up on the beach, body-surfed all my life, and boogie-boarded once or twice and found it easy. (Both my brothers were excellent surfers, but my parents would not allow me to surf.) In addition, I have slalom water skied since I was seven years old. So, I didn't think balance would be a problem. Part of the problem was the wrong size board for four days out of the seven! I think the surf school did not want to spent the extra to rent me a longer board for my height. (All of the tall women in the surf school had trouble getting up on their boards, btw.) I know it was the equipment because I went to Hawaii three months later, and my private surf instructor said they never should have started me out on the size board that I had, and I got up right away when I surfed with him and the right sized board. That was nice. Getting up wasn't hard, but I still was not very good.
Another problem: the waves on the public beach in Sayulita were too small and short-lived for me to have enough time to get my tall body standing on the board! By the fifth day with a bigger board and a trip by boat far out in the ocean to catch a bigger and longer wave (and figuring out another way to pop up on my board by kneeing it first and standing from there, something my instructors never suggested), I stood up really easily!
I feel like I should have gotten my money partially refunded because I wasted four days in an impossible situation. (One of the newer instructors slipped and said that the boards were really bad boards.) They were nice people and instructors. I loved the owner's philosophy, and I really clicked with her. I loved the people I was with. I loved the classes, and the breakfasts and meals and lodging, etc. So it was not all bad, but it was a lot of money to spend for bad equipment. I wouldn't recommend the school for that reason.
All that said, it was good to suck at something because I usually do NOT fail. So for that reason alone, it was good for me to not surf well after assuming that I would!
Here is a link to the pictures of the adventure:
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